In a message dated 4/27/2006 10:16:05 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
inua@CHARTER.NET writes:

What a  very interesting story! I would like to have seen that
carriage.From your  description is must have really been a thing of
beauty. Can't help  wondering about all those ground up pumas, though.
That must be what  brought about the decline of the big cats in the  West!
;-)

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL  Driver

Raceingcajun wrote:
>     This tread brings  to mind something I saw on a trip I took years ago
> with the family to  a West Texas "Old Wild West". Yes we took the Family
> Truckster, you  think you hate it now, wait til you drive it!
>     The  town was set up and operated the way it would have 150 years ago.
> All  the local crafts were done by hand, such as the candle maker,
>  blacksmith, saddle making, leather goods, wooden furniture, gunsmith and
so
> on.
>     Then there was the Carriage shop.  When we passed through the
"Craftsman"
> was in the process of painting  a new Carriage. Everything was done in the
> ordinal fashion. He didn't  even have the luxury of a paint brush to work
> with. He made his own  paint from a mixture of oil, charcoal, turpentine,
and
> other items.  Instead of a brush, he used a piece of cloth to spread the
> paint on in  several coats. After each coat was dry, he would "sand" out
what
> we  would call brush marks and apply another coat. What he used for "sand
>  paper" was a mixture of linseed oil and ground up pumas, rubbed on  with
> another cloth. He kept doing this layer after layer, (about 20  coats he
> said) until there was a smooth build up of paint that fully  covered the
> wood. He then started the polishing process in much the  same way, using
> bee's wax, and oil as a base to again make a build up.  He told us the paint
> job took 3 months start to finish, with drying  times. So painting a Vanagon
> (Vanagon content) with a roller should be  a snap what with all the modern
> conveniences, like sand paper, rubbing  compounds, etc! ;-) By the way, he
> said this where the term "Hand  rubbed paint job" came from.
>     There was a finished  buggy in the store front. The black, (with red
> leather seats) finish  would have rivaled any modern base coat/clear coat
> paint job. Super  shine a foot deep, with inlayed pearl scroll work, and pin
> stripes in  gold leaf, a real master piece! It came with all the modern
>  accessories of the day, a iron weight with strap for tie downs, a  leather
> feed bag that fit over the horses head, also a bag with scoop  hanging on
the
> rear.........for the horse droppings! Must have been an  EPA requirement.
>     Price Tag, $25,000.00! The price  150 years ago, .....................
> $75.00, a ton back then! He said  a store clerk would earn about $3.00 to
> $5.00 a week, and some of that  would have been barter.
>     We just don't know how good  we got it. Why when I was a kid I had to
> walk 40 miles one way through  the snow to school each day, and it was up
> hill both ways.  ;^0
>
> Have a good one!
>
>  Howard
>

He He ...What kind of tires did it have?

is it Friday yet?

Jeff E
87' Westy "weekender"
Atlanta,  GA.